SIR CLIVE WOODWARD: The Six Nations showed that England are outdated

The Six Nations showed that England are outdated whilst Ireland Grand Slam champions France have a future to look forward to. 

With all the talent that Eddie Jones' side have, it seems they have no coherent game plan or structure that could allow them to compete with the likes of France and Ireland.

Scotland and Wales showed plenty of effort but lacked consistency and ability to back up big performances. 

England at best are treading water while France and Ireland disappear into the distance. A few point to an ‘improvement’ from fifth place to third but frankly don’t even go there.

The Six Nations has never been about position in league tables — it is about Grand Slams or winning the title — and certainly not a development tool for future World Cups and hence a means of job retention.

England lost three of their five games and all the big questions about the side remain unanswered.

What is clear is the head coach answers to nobody who understands international rugby. And I mean nobody. Eddie Jones reports to himself and that has been a recipe for disaster since his appointment. This is where the fault lines start and finish.

I really feel for the players because they deserve better than this but none of them, currently, actually knows what good looks like at Test level.

Individually there were some fine performances in Paris — heroic even.

Ellis Genge was phenomenal, Maro Itoje was again an iconic figure in adversity, Sam Underhill and Joe Marchant impressed and Freddie Steward had a brilliant match.

Steward has something special about him, he is clearly very strong mentally, and now I would like to see those attacking skills more fully deployed at full back to complement his defensive qualities.

For all those individual